Method of manufacturing semiconductor device, and semiconductor device

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor device including a substrate, and an insulating film formed over the substrate, wherein the insulating film has a first contact having a rectangular geometry in a plan view, and second to fifth contacts provided respectively adjacent to the individual edges of the rectangular first contact, formed therein.

The present Application is a Divisional Application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/320,101, filed on Jan. 16, 2009, which is basedon Japanese patent application No. 2008-034228, filed on Feb. 15, 2008,the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing asemiconductor device, and a semiconductor device thus manufactured.

2. Related Art

In the recent field of semiconductor devices, shrinkage in patterning ofinterconnect trenches, contact holes and so forth has been advancing.Conventionally, the contact holes have been formed into a circulargeometry in a plan view, due to resolution power of resist and otherproblems. Accordingly, also the contacts formed by filling up thecontact holes with an electro-conductive material inevitably have acircular geometry in a plan view. However, when the pattern is shrunk,and the contacts having the circular geometry are extremely shrunk inthe diameter thereof, the contact resistance between the contacts andinterconnects may sometimes exceed a desired value.

Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-134574 describes a methodof manufacturing a semiconductor device, capable of forming arectangular contact hole without increasing the number of masks norprocedures. An insulating interlayer herein is etched through a resistmask with a specially-selected gas, so as to allow fluorocarbons todeposit more readily on portions of the resist mask having largerinter-pattern distance. On the other hand, the fluorocarbons are lesslikely to deposit on portions of the resist mask having smallerinter-pattern distance, because only a few flat portions may beavailable there for the deposition of fluorocarbons.

Accordingly the recession of the pattern edge towards the region havingthe larger inter-pattern distances may be prevented while etching of theresist mask in the portion having the smaller inter-pattern distancesproceeds. Therefore, by etching the insulating interlayer throughthus-formed mask, the contact holes formed in the insulating interlayermay be shaped into a rectangular geometry.

SUMMARY

According to the present invention, there is provided a method ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device which includes:

forming a resist film over a film-to-be-etched formed over a substrate;

forming a first opening having a circular geometry in a plan view, andsecond to fifth openings arranged respectively on four sides of thefirst opening, in the resist film; and

etching the film-to-be-etched while using the resist film as a mask,

wherein in the process of etching the film-to-be-etched, a hardenedlayer is formed in a region of the resist film fallen between the firstopening and each of the second to fifth openings, and thefilm-to-be-etched is etched while using the hardened layers as a mask,so as to form a contact hole having a rectangular geometry in a planview in the film-to-be-etched at a position correspondent to the firstopening of the resist film.

According to the above-described method of the present invention, theportions fallen between the adjacent openings (contact holes) will havethe hardened layers formed therein. Since the hardened layers areextremely hard, so that they are unlikely to be etched in the process ofetching the film-to-be-etched. Therefore, two adjacent contact holes areunlikely to couple in the film-to-be-etched. Because the contact holesmay be prevented from being coupled, even if the distance between theadjacent opening are narrowed, a considerably fine design rule may beadoptable.

According to the present invention, there is provided also asemiconductor device which includes:

a substrate; and

an insulating film formed over the substrate,

wherein the insulating film has a first contact having a rectangulargeometry in a plan view, and second to fifth contacts providedrespectively adjacent to the individual edges of the rectangular firstcontact, formed therein.

According to the method described in Japanese Laid-Open PatentPublication No. 2004-134574, the contact holes finally formed arearranged according to a staggered layout. The contact holes are,however, generally arranged along orthogonal grid lines. Therefore, thecontact holes arranged according to the staggered layout cannot bearranged along the grid lines. For this reason, the distance between thecontact holes becomes larger than that between the grid lines, and afine layout pattern cannot be achieved. In contrast, according to theconfiguration of a semiconductor device of the present invention, thecontact holes may be arranged along'the grind lines, so that a finelayout pattern may be achieved.

It is to be understood that any arbitrary combinations of theabove-described constituents, and also any exchanges of the expressionof the present invention among the method, device and so forth may beeffective as embodiments of the present invention.

According to the present invention, a contact having a rectangulargeometry in a plan view may be formed only by simple procedures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the presentinvention will be more apparent from the following description ofcertain preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIGS. 1A to 4B are sectional views sequentially showing steps ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device of one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 5A to 6B are plan views sequentially showing steps ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device of one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 7A to 9 are plan views explaining a mechanism of formation of acontact having a rectangular geometry in a plan view, in one embodimentof the present invention;

FIGS. 10A to 10C are plan views explaining a problem in a contact havinga circular geometry in a plan view;

FIGS. 11A and 11B are plan views explaining the related art of formationof a contact having a rectangular geometry in a plan view; and

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a contact having a circular geometry in aplan view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before describing the present invention, the related art will beexplained in detail with reference to FIGS. 10A to 10C and FIGS. 11A to12 in order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention.

The present inventor has recognized that the contact resistance betweenthe contacts and inter connects may sometimes exceed a desired valuewhen the contacts with a circular geometry shrinks. The reason for thisis explained by the present inventor as the followings:

As shown in FIG. 10A, a contact 20 a having a circular geometry in aplan view may provide only a small contact area with an interconnect,and thereby the contact resistance may elevate. On the other hand, asshown in FIG. 10B, the contact 20 a formed over a larger area mayincrease the contact area with the interconnect 10. An attempt ofincreasing the diameter of contact beyond the width of interconnect,however, raises another need of setting the diameter of the contact holelarger than the width of the interconnect 10, in the process of forminga contact hole for forming the contact 20 a fallen on the interconnect10. An insulating film (not illustrated) around the interconnect 10 maysometimes be etched to a depth deeper than the top surface of theinterconnect. As a consequence, as shown in FIG. 10C, the interconnect10 will be brought into contact with the contact 20 a not only on thetop surface thereof, but also on the side faces. FIG. 10C shows asectional view taken along line B-B′ in FIG. 10B. Once this sort ofgeometry is achieved, a void may be produced in the process of fillingup the contact hole with an electro-conductive material to form thecontact, and may elevate the contact resistance between the contact 20 aand the interconnect 10.

The present inventor has also recognized that the method described inJapanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-134574 may cause anunintended connection between the adjacent contacts. The reason for thisis explained by the present inventor as the followings:

FIGS. 11A and 11B are schematic drawings for explaining the techniquedescribed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-134574.

First, as shown in FIG. 11A, a plurality of circular contact holepatterns 2 a are formed in a resist mask. Plasma etching is thenproceeded according to process conditions under which fluorocarbons maybe more likely to deposit on the portions of the resist mask havinglarger inter-pattern distances. In this process, the portion of theresist mask having larger inter-pattern distances (the portions betweenthe horizontally-adjacent, and vertically-adjacent patterns in thedrawing) may keep some flat portions remained unetched on which thefluorocarbons can deposit, even after the edge portions of the circularholes of the resist mask were lost by etching. Etching of the resistmask in the portions having the larger inter-pattern distances may,therefore, be suppressed with progress of the deposition offluorocarbons. As a consequence, recession of the pattern edge in thedirection towards the region having the larger inter-pattern distancesmay be prevented.

On the other hand, the portion of the resist mask having smallerinter-pattern distances (the portions between the obliquely-adjacentpatterns in the drawing) may cause recession at the shoulder portions ofthe resist mask, and may keep only a few portions, on which thefluorocarbons can deposit, remained unetched. Etching of the resist maskthen proceeds in the portion having the smaller inter-pattern distances.Indications of “LARGE” in the drawing herein means that the amount ofetching is large, and indications of “SMALL” means that the amount ofetching is small.

Accordingly, rectangular contact holes 2 b as shown in FIG. 11B may beformed. By etching the insulating interlayer through thus-formed mask,the contact holes formed in the insulating interlayer may be shaped intoa rectangular geometry.

If the contact holes may be formed into a rectangular geometry in a planview as shown in FIG. 12, the contact area between each of a contacts 20b and the interconnect 10 may be wider than that in the case where eachcontact has a circular geometry. This configuration is supposed tosuppress the contact resistance to a low level.

The technique described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No.2004-134574 has, however, raised a problem in that the resist mask inthe portions having smaller inter-pattern distances may be lost duringthe etching proceeds, so that the adjacent contact holes may be coupled,which causes the connection of the adjacent contacts later formed in theadjacent contact holes, unless otherwise the timing is preciselycontrolled.

According to the method described in Japanese Laid-Open PatentPublication No. 2004-134574, the distance between the obliquely-adjacentcontact holes may gradually decrease as the etching proceeds as shown inFIG. 11B, and two adjacent contact holes may even be brought intocontact with each other in the worst case. In this situation, leakagemay undesirably occur, which is difficult to control.

The invention will now be described herein with reference to anillustrative embodiments. Those skilled in the art will recognize thatmany alternative embodiments can be accomplished using the teachings ofthe present invention and that the invention is not limited to theembodiment illustrated for explanatory purposes.

Embodiment of the present invention will be explained below, referringto the attached drawings. It is to be noted that any similarconstituents in all drawings will be given with similar referencenumerals, and that the explanation therefor will not be repeateddepending on the context.

FIGS. 1A to 4B are sectional views sequentially showing steps ofmanufacturing a semiconductor device of this embodiment. FIGS. 5A to 6Bare plan views sequentially showing steps of manufacturing asemiconductor device of this embodiment. FIGS. 1A to 4B are sectionalviews taken along lines A-A′ in FIGS. 5A to 6B. In the embodiment below,an explanation will be made on an exemplary case of patterning thefilm-to-be-etched using a multilayer (four-layered) resist structurehaving a lower resist film, an intermediate insulating film, ananti-reflective film, and an upper resist film stacked in this orderfrom the bottom.

First, on a structure containing a semiconductor substrate 102(substrate) and an insulating film 104 formed over it, an etchingstopper 106 and an insulating interlayer 108 are formed. Thesemiconductor substrate 102 may be a silicon substrate, for example.Although not illustrated, the semiconductor substrate 102 may havetransistor(s) or other element(s) formed thereon. Again not illustrated,the insulating film 104 may have interconnect(s) preliminarily formedtherein, at positions where contacts formed later in the insulatinginterlayer 108 are connected thereto. The etching stopper 106 may be aSiON film or a SiN film, for example.

In this embodiment, the insulating interlayer 108 is a target film to beetched in which the contact holes are formed. The insulating interlayer108 may typically be composed of a SiO₂ film, or a low-k film having aspecific dielectric constant smaller than that of SiO₂ film. Theembodiments hereinafter will deal with the cases where the insulatinginterlayer 108 is composed of a SiO₂ film. In the embodiments below, thecontact holes may be those connecting interconnect layers withimpurity-diffused layers or with gate electrodes, or may be viaholesconnecting two interconnect layers.

Next, a lower resist film 110 is formed over the insulating interlayer108. The lower resist film 110 may be composed of any of novolac resins,acryl resins, copolymers of these resins such as i-line resist, orpolyhydroxystyrene such as KrF resist. In this embodiment, the lowerresist film 110 may be formed by coating a resist composed of any ofthese materials, followed by baking.

Next, an intermediate insulating film 112 is formed over the lowerresist film 110. The intermediate insulating film 112 may typically becomposed of any of silicon-containing films such as organic siliconoxide film. The intermediate insulating film 112 may also be configuredby stacking a plurality of films composed of silicon-containingmaterials.

Thereafter, an anti-reflective film 114 is formed over the intermediateinsulating film 112. The anti-reflective film 114 may typically becomposed of an organic film.

Next, an upper resist film 116 is formed over the anti-reflective film114. For example, a resist generally used for ArF immersion lithographymay be adoptable to the upper resist film 116. The upper resist film 116may be formed by coating of resin composition, or by CVD.

Thereafter, a predetermined resist pattern is formed in the upper resistfilm 116 by a lithographic method including ArF immersion lithographyand development. The predetermined resist pattern herein has a pluralityof contact hole patterns 120 (openings) respectively having a circulargeometry in a plan view. FIG. 1A shows this state.

FIG. 5A is a plan view showing a semiconductor device 100 in this state.As shown in FIG. 5A, a plurality of contact hole patterns 120respectively having a circular geometry are arranged to form a matrix.In particular, the contact hole patterns 120, correspondent to thecontact holes desired to be formed into a rectangular geometry, may bearranged while being surrounded on four sides thereof by other contacthole patterns 120. The distance between the adjacent contact holepatterns 120 (distance between the outer circumferences of the adjacentcontact holes) may preferably be adjusted to 100% or larger and up to115% of the diameter of the contact hole patterns 120, and particularlypreferably adjusted to 100% (that is, the distance equal to the diameterof the contact hole patterns 120).

Next, the lower layers are sequentially etched by dry etching, using thepattern formed in the upper resist film 116. The dry etching adoptableherein may be proceeded using an etching apparatus based on any ofplasma excitation systems including capacitively-coupled plasma (CCP),inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) and so forth.

First, using the upper resist film 116 as a mask, the anti-reflectivefilm 114 is etched (FIG. 1B). In this process, a fluorocarbon gas may beused as an etching gas. Perfluorocarbon (PFC) such as CF₄ may be used asthe fluorocarbon gas. The etching process herein may be similar to thatgenerally adopted to etching of the anti-reflective film through themultilayer resist film. Exemplary conditions include pressure of etchinggas=100 mT, power (TOP/BTM)=1500/450 W, gas flow rate CF₄=400 sccm, andduration=25 seconds. The etching herein is proceeded under two differentelectric powers at two different frequencies, where “TOP” and “BTM”indicate electric powers at a higher frequency and a lower frequency,respectively.

Next, the intermediate insulating film 112 is etched using the upperresist film 116 and the anti-reflective film 114 as a mask (FIG. 2A). Inthis process, for example, a mixed gas of a fluorocarbon gas with aninert gas such as Ar may be used as the etching gas. As the fluorocarbongas, a perfluorocarbon (PFC) such as CF₄ may be adoptable. Morespecifically, a CF₄/Ar mixed gas, for example, may be adoptable to theetching gas. The etching process herein may be similar to that generallyadopted to etching of the intermediate insulating film through themultilayer resist film. Exemplary conditions include pressure of etchinggas=30 mT, power (TOP/BTM)=1500/300 W, gas flow rate CF₄/Ar=70/1000sccm, and duration=20 seconds. Alternatively, the anti-reflective film114 and the intermediate insulating film 112 may be etched using thesame gas at the same time.

Thereafter, the lower resist film 110 is etched using the upper resistfilm 116, the anti-reflective film 114 and the intermediate insulatingfilm 112 as a mask, (FIG. 2B). In this process, for example, a gascontaining an oxidative gas such as oxygen may be adoptable to theetching gas. More specifically, an O₂/N₂ mixed gas may typically be usedas the etching gas. Exemplary conditions include pressure of etchinggas=10 mT, power (TOP/BTM)=1800/300 W, gas flow rate O₂/N₂=30/250 sccmand duration=60 seconds. In this process, also the upper resist film 116and the anti-reflective film 114 are etched off. Although the lowerresist film 110 in this embodiment is preliminarily baked, the lowerresist film 110 may desirably be patterned by using a gas containing anoxidative gas, such as an O₂/N₂ mixed gas, as the etching gas.

Next, the insulating interlayer 108 is etched using the intermediateinsulating film 112 and the lower resist film 110 as a mask. As theetching gas in this process, a mixed gas of a fluorocarbon gas with aninert gas such as Ar, and with an oxidative gas such as oxygen, carbonmonoxide and so forth, may be adoptable. As the fluorocarbon gas, thosehaving a plurality of carbon atoms in one molecule, such as C₂F₄, C₂F₆,C₄F₈, C₅F₈, C₄F₆ and so forth, may be adoptable. Among these, C₅F₈ andC₄F₆ are preferably used. This is because they may show large etchrateof silicon oxide film, and may keep large selectivity against theetching stopper 106 composed of SiON, SiN or the like. Morespecifically, a C₅F₈/Ar/CO/O₂ mixed gas or a C₄F₆/Ar/O₂ mixed gas may beused as the etching gas.

When etching of the insulating interlayer 108 is started using theabove-described etching gas, while using the intermediate insulatingfilm 112 and the lower resist film 110 as a mask, first the intermediateinsulating film 112 is etched off, and thereby the lower resist film 110exposed to the top surface. FIG. 5B is a plan view showing this state.In this process, as has been explained referring to FIG. 5A, a pluralityof contact hole patterns 120 (first to fifth openings) each having acircular geometry, replicated from the contact hole patterns 120 formedin the upper resist film 116, are formed in the lower resist film 110.

If the etching gas is further irradiated in this situation, the lowerresist film 110 is gradually etched at the portions corresponding to theshoulders of the contact hole patterns 120 as shown in FIG. 3A, thelower resist film 110 begins to harden, and thereby semi-hardened layers130 are formed around the contact hole patterns 120. FIG. 5C is a planview showing this state.

If the etching gas is still further irradiated, the semi-hardened layers130 gradually extend towards the periphery of the contact hole patterns120. In the regions where the semi-hardened layers 130 formed around twoadjacent contact hole patterns 120 overlap each other, there are formedhardened layers 132 extremely large in the hardness (FIG. 3B, FIG. 6A).

If the irradiation of the etching gas is still further continued, thehardened layers 132 serve as a mask, so that the lower resist film 110and the insulating interlayer 108 are no more etched below the hardenedlayers 132. On the other hand, in any other portions having no hardenedlayers 132 formed thereon, etching of the lower resist film 110 and theinsulating interlayer 108 proceed (FIG. 4A).

As a consequence, as shown in FIG. 6B, the contact hole 121 surroundedby other contact hole 121 on four sides thereof has a rectangulargeometry in a plan view.

Thereafter, the product is irradiated with an oxygen plasma, and thehardened layer 132 and the lower resist film 110 are removed by ashing(FIG. 4B, FIG. 6B).

In this embodiment, the irradiation of etching gas for removing theinsulating interlayer 108, when using the lower resist film 110 as amask, is sustained for a longer duration than usual. In this way, thelower resist film 110 and the insulating interlayer 108 are etched alsoin the regions other than those initially exposed in the contact holepattern 120 formed in the lower resist film 110, and the hardened layers132 are formed at the same time. The duration of irradiation of etchinggas is set depending on the thickness of the insulating interlayer 108to be removed but may be set typically to 240 seconds or longer.

Exemplary conditions may include pressure of etching gas=30 mT, power(TOP/BTM)=2400/2700 W, C₅F₈/Ar/CO/O₂=20/950/40/22 sccm, and duration=250seconds. Alternative exemplary conditions may include pressure ofetching gas=30 mT, power (TOP/BTM)=1500/3000 W, C₄F₆/Ar/O₂=23/1000/22sccm, and duration=280 seconds. By using predetermined gases and byirradiating the etching gases for long durations as described in theabove, the hardened layers 132 may be formed in the lower resist film110, and thereby the contact holes 121 having a rectangular geometry ina plan view may be formed.

Thereafter, the etching stopper 106 is etched while using the insulatinginterlayer 108 as a mask. Processes thereafter may be proceededsimilarly to the general etching.

Next, a mechanism of formation of the contact hole patterns 120 having arectangular geometry in this embodiment will be explained referring toFIGS. 7A to 9.

FIG. 7A is a plan view showing a state of formation of a plurality ofcontact hole patterns 120 in the lower resist film 110. For theconvenience of explanation, one contact hole pattern 120 provided at thecenter will be indicated as 120A. On four sides on the vertical andhorizontal directions, in the drawing of the contact hole pattern 120A,other contact hole patterns 120 are formed. Through the lower resistfilm 110 having such opening patterns, the mixed gas containing theabove-described fluorocarbon gas is irradiated. By this process, theportions of the insulating interlayer 108 (not illustrated herein),fallen under the contact hole patterns 120 of the lower resist film 110,are etched. At the same time, also the lower resist film 110 isgradually thinned from the shoulder portions of the contact holepatterns 120 laterally and vertically, and thereby the semi-hardenedlayers 130 are formed around the contact hole patterns 120 (FIG. 7B).

The semi-hardened layers 130 gradually extend around the periphery ofthe individual contact hole patterns 120. When the semi-hardened layers130 respectively formed around two adjacent contact hole patterns 120extend so far to overlap each other, the overlapped portions turn intothe hardened layers 132 having an extremely large hardness (FIG. 8A).The hardened layers 132 are formed to have a rectangular geometrybetween every adjacent contact hole patterns 120.

The lower resist film 110 and the insulating interlayer 108 in thisprocess are gradually thinned so as to gradually widen the contact holepatterns 120 formed in the lower resist film 110, wherein under theportions where the hardened layers 132 are already formed, the etchingof the lower resist film 110 is inhibited. In other words, in theportions where the hardened layers 132 are formed, widening of thecontact hole patterns 120 due to etching is inhibited.

Accordingly, in the portions where the hardened layers 132 are formed,the geometry of the contact hole patterns 120 is specified in a mannerreplicated from the geometry of the hardened layers 132. The contacthole pattern 120A, surrounded on four sides thereof by the other contacthole patterns 120, will consequently be surrounded on four sides thereofby the hardened layers 132, and will finally have a rectangulargeometry. On the other hand, in the portions having no hardened layers132 formed therein, the lower resist film 110 are etched in the lateraland vertical directions, and gradually thinned. As a consequence, in theportions not adjacent to the other contact hole patterns 120, and haveno hardened layers 132 formed therein, the geometry of the contact holepatterns 120 gradually swells (FIG. 8B). It is to be noted that thesemi-hardened layers 130, actually formed around the contact holepatterns 120 as the geometry of the contact hole patterns 120 swells,are not illustrated herein. In the portions where the lower resist film110 is thinned, also the insulating interlayer 108 masked by such lowerresist film 110 is thinned. In this way, the contact holes 121 (121A)are formed in the insulating interlayer 108 (FIG. 9).

In this embodiment, the contact hole 121A formed in the portioncorrespondent to the contact hole pattern 120A has a rectangulargeometry in a plan view. In addition, the other contact holes are formedin the portions adjacent to the individual edges of the rectangularcontact hole 121A, that is, in the portions along the individual edges.Although FIG. 9 shows only a single contact hole 121A having arectangular geometry, a plurality of contact holes 121 having arectangular geometry may be formed by arranging a larger number ofcontact hole patterns 120 into a matrix, as shown in FIG. 6B.

Next, effects of the semiconductor device 100 and the method ofmanufacturing the same of this embodiment will be explained.

According to the procedures of manufacturing the semiconductor device100 in this embodiment, the contact holes 121 having a rectangulargeometry may be formed in the insulating interlayer 108, simply byforming the contact hole patterns 120 having a circular geometry similarto the conventional one in the lower resist film 110, and by controllingthe conditions so that the hardened layers 132 may be formed between theadjacent contact hole patterns 120. In this way, the contacts having arectangular geometry may be formed by simple procedures. By forming thecontacts into a rectangular geometry, the contact area thereof with aninterconnect formed on the lower or upper side thereof may be increased,and thereby the contact resistance may be lowered.

On the other hand, according to the method described in JapaneseLaid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-134574, the distance between theobliquely-adjacent contact holes may gradually decrease as the etchingproceeds as shown in FIG. 11B, and two adjacent contact holes may beeven brought into contact with each other in the worst case. In suchsituation, leakage may undesirably occur, which is difficult to control.

In contrast, according to the procedures for manufacturing thesemiconductor device 100 of this embodiment, the hardened layers 132 areformed between the adjacent contact hole patterns 120, in the process ofhardening of the lower resist film 110 at around the contact holepatterns 120. The hardened layers 132 have an extremely large hardness,and are therefore not thinned in the process of etching the insulatinginterlayer 108. Accordingly, there is no fear of coupling of twoadjacent contact holes in the insulating interlayer 108. Since thecoupling of the contact holes is thus avoidable even if the distancebetween the adjacent contacts is narrowed, so that a considerably finedesign rule may be adoptable.

The hardened layers 132 described in the above may stably be formed,particularly in the lower resist film 110 of the multilayer resiststructure containing the lower resist film 110, the intermediateinsulating film 112, the upper resist film 116 and so forth. Inthus-configured multilayer resist structure, a relatively soft film isadopted to the upper resist film 116, in view of forming fine patterns.On the other hand, as the lower resist film 110, a film harder than theupper resist film 116 is used. When this sort of film is used, thesemi-hardened layers 130 are formed in the lower resist film 110 as theetching of the lower resist film 110 proceeds, and thereby the hardenedlayers 132 are formed. The dimension of the contact holes 121 formed inthe insulating interlayer 108 may appropriately be adjustable, byadjusting, for example, the duration of etching of the lower resist film110.

Moreover, according to the method described in Japanese Laid-Open PatentPublication No. 2004-134574, the resultant contact holes are arrangedaccording to a staggered layout. In other words, when a certain contacthole is brought into focus, the other contact holes are formed in theoblique directions of the contact hole.

In contrast, according to the configuration of the semiconductor device100 of this embodiment, the other contact holes are respectively formedin the regions adjacent to the individual edges of the rectangularcontact hole 121A, that is, at the positions along the individual edges.Accordingly, for an exemplary case where it is desired to densely formthe contacts along orthogonal grid lines, it is now possible to form thecontact holes along the grid lines. Therefore, a fine structure may berealized, and the design therefor may be readily accessible.

EXAMPLES Example 1

The contact holes were formed in the insulating interlayer 108,according to the procedures explained referring to FIGS. 1A to 6B.

Configurations of the individual films are as follow:

etching stopper 106: SiON film (50 nm thick);

insulating interlayer 108: SiO₂ film (750 nm thick);

lower resist film 110: i-line resist (350 nm thick);

intermediate insulating film 112: SiO₂ film (60 nm thick);

anti-reflective film 114: organic film (60 nm thick); and

upper resist film 116: resist for ArF immersion lithography (230 nmthick).

Etching conditions of the individual films were set as below:

anti-reflective film 114: pressure of etching gas=100 mT, power(TOP/BTM)=1500/450 W, gas flow rate CF₄=400 sccm, duration=25 seconds;

intermediate insulating film 112: pressure of etching gas=30 mT, power(TOP/BTM)=1500/300 W, gas flow rate CF₄/Ar=70/1000 sccm, duration=20seconds;

lower resist film 110: pressure of etching gas=10 mT, power(TOP/BTM)=1800/300 W, gas flow rate O₂/N₂=30/250 sccm, duration=60seconds;

insulating interlayer 108: pressure of etching gas=30 mT, power(TOP/BTM)=2400/2700 W, C₅F₈/Ar/CO/O₂=20/950/40/22 sccm, duration=250seconds; and

etching stopper 106: pressure of etching gas=25 mT, power(TOP/BTM)=1500/600 W, CHF₃/Ar/O₂=50/400/20 sccm, duration=30 seconds.

It was finally confirmed that the contact hole, correspondent to thecontact hole pattern 120 at a position surrounded by the other contactholes, had a rectangular geometry.

Example 2

The insulating interlayer 108 was etched similarly to as described inExample 1, except that the etching conditions were altered. Conditionsfor etching the insulating interlayer 108 included pressure of etchinggas=30 mT, power (TOP/BTM)=1500/3000 W, C₄F₆/Ar/O₂=23/1000/22 sccm, andduration=280 seconds.

It was finally confirmed that the contact hole, correspondent to thecontact hole pattern 120 at a position surrounded by the other contactholes, had a rectangular geometry.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described referringto the attached drawings, only as mere examples of the presentinvention, while allowing adoption of various configurations other thanthose described in the above.

The embodiments in the above showed exemplary cases where the hardenedlayers 132 are formed in the lower resist film 110, using a gas used foretching the insulating interlayer 108 which is a film-to-be-etched. Onthe other hand, for the case where the gas capable of forming thehardened layers 132 in the lower resist film 110 is incapable of etchingthe film-to-be-etched formed thereunder, the film-to-be-etched may beetched using a different gas after the hardened layer 132 are formed inthe lower resist film 110 with such the lower resist film 110 used as amask.

Still alternatively, in order to make the contact relevant to operationsof the semiconductor device into a rectangular geometry, dummy contactsnon-relevant to the operations of the semiconductor device may bearranged therearound. By providing the dummies, the target contact maybe made into a rectangular geometry.

Although the geometry of the contact hole patterns 120 described in theembodiments above were circle, they may also be ellipse. Again, thegeometry of the contact hole 121 having a rectangular geometry,exemplified as square, may also be oblong rectangle.

It is apparent that the present invention is not limited to the aboveembodiment, that may be modified and changed without departing from thescope and spirit of the invention.

1. A semiconductor device comprising: a substrate; and an insulatingfilm formed over said substrate, wherein said insulating film has afirst contact having a rectangular geometry in a plan view, and secondto fifth contacts provided respectively adjacent to the individual edgesof said rectangular first contact, formed therein.